Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Journey
Not the band. This journey is across America. It began on Sunday from AZ and it will end there. However, in between, will involve numerous areas within the continental United States. Right now I am fresh of a viewing of the Valero Alamo Bowl -- an OT victory for Missouri over Northwestern 30-23. San Antonio is a nice little city and the riverwalk remains a great feature. Now, its on to the Ft. Worth/Dallas area to catch 2 more bowl games -- the Armed Forces Bowl and the Cotton Bowl.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Rihanna
I drove from Iowa to Arizona this past Friday/Saturday. I left at 11am Friday morning from Grinnell, IA and arrived in Pinetop, AZ at 2pm Saturday afternoon -- 27 hours. So, a 22-hour ride, 5-hour hotel stay, and 1-hour gain due to time change. This feat was done solo and only because of Rihanna. Seriously, the girl has talent. I downloaded numerous tunes right before I left and every time I was beginning to feel fatigued I would put on my Recently Added playlist (a.k.a. all Rihanna). My two favorites are obvious: "Live Your Life" (T.I. feat. Rihanna) and "Disturbia." Thank you Rihanna for keeping me attentive on my journey.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
C.C. & A.J.
Let me start off by saying that I am a huge Yankees fan. I grew up with a strong NY sports influence and have followed religiously ever since my early years. I went back to NY this past summer to see my last game in the old Yankee Stadium. It was a fabulous time; there is a great blog post from July about it.
I just read Buster Olney's evaluation of the new additions to the Yankees -- C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. It got me thinking. Before his stint with ESPN, Olney worked for The New York Times and wrote about the Yankees. He also has written The Last Night of the Yankees Dynasty, which discusses why the 2001 World Series was lost and why a World Series pennant hasn't graced the Stadium since 2000. I stopped reading halfway through to start football camp in 2005. I'll get back to it sometime.
I had been pondering about these signings ever since they became official last week. My immediate, negative thought purely consisted of the length of these contracts. Sabathia got 7 years and Burnett 5 years. For two power pitches, Burnett more so than Sabathia, the contract seems long. The arm of a pitcher takes on so much wear and tear over time. Sabathia pitched 253 innings last year, Burnett 221, both setting career highs. Although pitching every 5 days, pitchers are the most injured position in baseball and as a Yankees fan I cannot help but be scarred by long deals from past (i.e. Carl Pavano, about $2 million per start). However, Sabathia is 28, the contract will carry him to his mid-thirties. With an opt-out clause after his 3rd year, the contract doesn't seem so reckless as it first appeared. Burnett's deal is scary to me. He has had arm troubles in the past, is 32 years old, and looks like he is throwing out his arm with every fastball. His contract will carry him past his mid-thirties. Risky? For me, yes. The Yankees need him to perform like Roger Clemens did when they traded for him in 1999.
The one good thing is that the payroll will be down this year from the ~$210 million spent in 2008; as $88 million came off the books. Don't get me wrong, it will still be high, but the production from the 2009 payroll should be higher per dollar with the loss of high profile free agents who never quite panned out (again Pavano). For now, I am somewhat content with direction of the team. By picking up these free agents the Yankees are allowing their young pitchers to gain more experience. As we saw last year, throwing them into the fire did not work. I guess time will tell.
I just read Buster Olney's evaluation of the new additions to the Yankees -- C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. It got me thinking. Before his stint with ESPN, Olney worked for The New York Times and wrote about the Yankees. He also has written The Last Night of the Yankees Dynasty, which discusses why the 2001 World Series was lost and why a World Series pennant hasn't graced the Stadium since 2000. I stopped reading halfway through to start football camp in 2005. I'll get back to it sometime.
I had been pondering about these signings ever since they became official last week. My immediate, negative thought purely consisted of the length of these contracts. Sabathia got 7 years and Burnett 5 years. For two power pitches, Burnett more so than Sabathia, the contract seems long. The arm of a pitcher takes on so much wear and tear over time. Sabathia pitched 253 innings last year, Burnett 221, both setting career highs. Although pitching every 5 days, pitchers are the most injured position in baseball and as a Yankees fan I cannot help but be scarred by long deals from past (i.e. Carl Pavano, about $2 million per start). However, Sabathia is 28, the contract will carry him to his mid-thirties. With an opt-out clause after his 3rd year, the contract doesn't seem so reckless as it first appeared. Burnett's deal is scary to me. He has had arm troubles in the past, is 32 years old, and looks like he is throwing out his arm with every fastball. His contract will carry him past his mid-thirties. Risky? For me, yes. The Yankees need him to perform like Roger Clemens did when they traded for him in 1999.
The one good thing is that the payroll will be down this year from the ~$210 million spent in 2008; as $88 million came off the books. Don't get me wrong, it will still be high, but the production from the 2009 payroll should be higher per dollar with the loss of high profile free agents who never quite panned out (again Pavano). For now, I am somewhat content with direction of the team. By picking up these free agents the Yankees are allowing their young pitchers to gain more experience. As we saw last year, throwing them into the fire did not work. I guess time will tell.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Army-Navy Football Game
This football game is about as American as the sport can get. Young men playing for pride, serving our country, with nothing more on the line than respectful competition. There is no ticket to the NFL up for grabs for these players. Remember last year? Caleb Campbell, a safety from Army was drafted with pick 218 by the Lions. The Army gave him and the NFL the go-ahead before the draft, only to call Campbell to duty the day before he was officially ready to start training camp.
For this years game, the 109th in the series, Nike collaborated with Army and Navy to create a set of new "Enforcer" uniforms. The Army uniforms feature a camouflage helmet, pants, and numbers on a black jersey. Moreover, the saying "Duty. Honor. Country." is featured on the back of their jerseys. Two sayings are also on the pants - the right leg says "West Point" while the left leg reads "Boots on the Ground," the traditional Army slogan.
The Navy uniforms entail navy shoulder boards with gold trim, honoring the wings of the Blue Angel plane. The jersey has the Marines globe and anchor logo and the pants replicate officer pants, with the red office blood stripe down the legs.
Photo courtesy of ESPN.com
Each player also wore a patch designating their unit in the Army or Navy. The final score was 34-0 in favor of Navy. It is great to not only watch this game every year, but to take in the raw emotion and strong sense of pride that each of these young men carry with them. Thanks to Nike for supplementing the game with new threads that embody the spirit of this competition.
For this years game, the 109th in the series, Nike collaborated with Army and Navy to create a set of new "Enforcer" uniforms. The Army uniforms feature a camouflage helmet, pants, and numbers on a black jersey. Moreover, the saying "Duty. Honor. Country." is featured on the back of their jerseys. Two sayings are also on the pants - the right leg says "West Point" while the left leg reads "Boots on the Ground," the traditional Army slogan.
The Navy uniforms entail navy shoulder boards with gold trim, honoring the wings of the Blue Angel plane. The jersey has the Marines globe and anchor logo and the pants replicate officer pants, with the red office blood stripe down the legs.
Photo courtesy of ESPN.comMonday, December 8, 2008
98 Cents
Last Friday night I went to Wal-Mart with a couple friends (Kim and Lauren) to pick up some ingredients for Asian pudding (I mean, it could have had a better name, but was still delicious). On our escapade I decided to buy a Red Bull. It had been a long day and with our pending fort building, movie watching, and eventual sleepover in the cards, I knew I had to be on top of my game. The red bull was $1.83. I thought for sure I would be safely under $2. Nope. The cashier rung up the beverage and said the total was $2.02. I turned to my friends, pleading for change. My pleads turned into a blatantly obvious whining attempt for the attendant to just offer 2 cents to me. Kim had zero change and the cashier didn't take the bait. I quickly searched for the "Pennies for Everyone" bowl. No dice. I then directly asked her, "Do you have 2 cents I could use? I really don't want to get 98 cents back." Stone-faced,while acting like she was browsing her surroundings, she said "No I ain't got 2 cents." I thought to myself: No way is this happening. I forked over $3 and the cashier, while handing me my receipt, said "And 98 cents is your change." NO SHIT! I knew that. I didn't want 98 cents to be my change. I pleaded, whined, begged not to get 98 cents back and lost some dignity in doing so.
There is nothing more painful to me than getting 95+ cents back on the purchase of an item. One of the top three things I cannot stand. It makes me crazy. Absolutely crazy. American mandate should include a designated "Pennies for Everyone" bowl at EVERY place of business in America. I mean, this pain should be inflicted on the people. It can easily be avoided.
There is nothing more painful to me than getting 95+ cents back on the purchase of an item. One of the top three things I cannot stand. It makes me crazy. Absolutely crazy. American mandate should include a designated "Pennies for Everyone" bowl at EVERY place of business in America. I mean, this pain should be inflicted on the people. It can easily be avoided.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Women
WAKE UP AMERICA --
We can all thank Nolan Ticer for sending me this link in a Facebook message about 3 weeks ago. It has multiple attractive women wearing (little) clothing honoring America. Thanks Nolan for the prideful eye candy you bestow upon us. You are the blogs honorary American for the time being. . .
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